A Night At Palladium (Goodfellas FELL08)
Palladium, New York, NY – June 29TH, 1982
(61:58) Murders In The Rue Morgue, Wrathchild, Run To The Hills, Children Of The Damned, Number Of The Beast, Prisoner, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Phantom Of The Opera, Iron Maiden, Sanctuary/Drifter
Iron Maiden were formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris. Bruce Dickinson joined the band in 1981 after the departure of Paul Di’Anno. This concert was being recorded for a future radio broadcast according to Dickinson’s comments, in support of the “Number Of The Beast” album released March 29th, 1982 and not only is an excellent performance but also comes to you in simply stunning sound quality that could easily be an official release. Writing this review reminds me of my headbanging years when I purchased every Maiden cassette up until “Powerslave” . These are the metal years!!!
It’s very difficult for me to pick my favorites performances from this energetic and powerful performance because to my ears they all sound fantastic!!! I prefer Di’Anno however Dickinson adds a different aura to this band and is probably their most well known singer. He does an excellent job of filling the shoes of their former frontman on classics such as “Iron Maiden” and “Sanctuary”.
This is released in a gatefold adorned with a live picture of Steve Harris on the front, Bruce and Steve on the inside left, Dave Murray, Steve, and Bruce in the center, Adrian Smith and Steve on right inside and finally Eddie, Bruce, and Steve on the back cover. The only issues I found were with track #8 “Phantom Of The Opera” where between 1:36 and 1:42 there are some slight issues including repeating that must be part of the source or mastering flaws and “22 Acacia Avenue” is listed however not on this disc. I wouldn’t consider these huge issues and actually didn’t catch it the first time I gave this a spin. This is highly recommended for both the hardcore and casual collector. (LedMan Feb. 08)
2 Comments
This show has been released many times before…I have it as “Concert Of The Beast”
I very much appreciate what LedMan’s written about this title, but can’t help but recall what this concert meant to me because I was there when they played this show. To my disappointment, Dickinson had replaced DiAnno, and I recall his foul mouth at the show and pompous swagger that DiAnno never had, to my knowledge. For us lovers of early Maiden, in its rawest form, the commercial release of “Early Days” amply satisfies. Pristine live footage is provided in that DVD of a performance during the “Killers” tour that, for me, shows why DiAnno captured the essence of Maiden that was lost when Dickinson replaced him. The final, crushing blow was when Nicko McBrain replaced Clive Burr, forever changing Maiden’s direction. Unfortunately, Goodfellas has put a picture of McBrain on the beautiful tri-fold paper case accompanying this title, although it was Burr performing ably on the skins.
“A Night at Palladium” comes up as “The Beast on the Road” when the discs are inserted into the player, suggesting that this title comes from an earlier version. The recording’s excellent, and vividly brings back the eerie images accompanying the spoken words preceding tracks like “Number of the Beast” and “Prisoner”. Dickinson did not, however, do justice to such Maiden classics as “Wrathchild”, “Iron Maiden”, or “Phantom of the Opera”. Those live performances are best left for listening from the official, and classic, “Maiden Japan” album. Dickinson’s strength, however, was the new material, and he did a fine job with it in this concert. As a result, for the fans who loved Maiden with Dickinson on their “Number of the Beast” tour, this is a great title.